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D. B. MOORE PILL COUNTER. No, 316,638. Patented A 28, 1885.

WITNESSES:

A m INVENTOR:

BY1 M W I O ATTORNEYS.

llNrTnn STaTns PATENT @rrrcia.

DAVID B. MOORE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND GUSTAVE J. MEYER, OF SAME PLACE.

PILL-COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 316,638, dated April 28,, 1885.

Application filed May 23, 1884.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID B. MOORE, of St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a new and Improved Pill-Counter, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and convenient apparatus for counting and dispensing pills and other similar articles; and it consists of a flat strip of wood or other suitable material having perforations correspondingwiththe number ofpillsto becounted, and provided with a trough, which answers the double purpose of a bottom to the pillcavities and of a discharging-spout for guiding the pills into the box or package into which they are to be discharged. It also consists in a sliding cover for closing part of the holes, and thus limiting the number of pills counted.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which the same letters of reference indicate the same or corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figurel is aplan of my improved pill-counter. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is aside elevation with the trough in position to discharge. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on line 00 x in Fig. 1.

A strip, A, of wood, rubber, celluloid, or other suitable material, provided with a handle, B, at one end, is perforated along the opposite end with a series of holes, a, of sufficient size to receive pills being counted, but not large enough to take more than one pill at a time. In the present case I have shown two parallel rows of such holes; but the strip may be provided with any convenient number;

A shallow trough, O, of thin sheet metal, is suspended from the under side of the strip A by wire stirrups b c, which extend across the upper surface of the strip A, and are bent downward at right angles. The stirrup b is bent inward at its ends and enters the sides of the trough. The arms of the stirrup c are flattened, and its ends are bent outward and extend through holes in the sides of the trough (J. Recesses (Z are formed in the edges of the (No model.)

strip A, to receive the stirrup 0 when the trough is.closed upon the under side of the strip A. By this construction the arms ofthe stirrup a will be within the trough when said trough is raised, thereby imparting a neater appearance to the counter, and facilitating its introduction into a bottle or other receptacle containing the pills. I

The stirrup b is provided with a crank, e, which is pressed by a spring, f, attached to the upper surface of the strip A, and which tends to turn the said stirrup so as to lift the trough O upward into contact with the under surface of the said strip.

A groove, 9, is formed in opposite edges of the strip A, for receiving the flanges ofa cover, D, which is formed of two halves connected by the yokes z, and adapted to slide along the upper surface of the strip A and close a portion of the holes a, to prevent the entrance of the pills into the said holes. Each series of six or more or less holes is provided with a plate, h, carrying the number corresponding with the number of holes between the said plate and the outer end of the strip A.

The end of the strip A remote from the handle is beveled to facilitate its entrance into the body of the pills.

My improved pill-counter is used by insert ing it into a quantity of pills and removing it therefrom, when each hole a will contain one pill. By placing the beveled end of the strip A over the box or package into which the pills are to be discharged, and by pressing 'on the crank 6, so as to turn the stirrups b c and swing the trough O downward away from the strip A, the pills will drop out of the holes a, and following the trough C will be discharged into the box or package. By sliding the cover D over the series of holes a the number of vpills counted may be limited to two, four, six,

both as a bottom and discharge-spout, as set I forth.

2. In a pill-counter, the perforated strip A, having its end beveled and provided with the handle 13, in combination with the sliding cover D, substantially as herein shown and described.

3. The combination, with the strip A, provided with a series of pill-counting holes, a,

of the numbered plates h, as specified.

4. The combination, in a pill-counter, of the strip A, provided with holes a, the swinging spring-acted trough O, and a sliding cover, D, as specified.

5. The combination, in a pill-counter, of a r 5 strip, A, providedwith a handle, B, atrough, G, stirrups b 0, and spring f, as specified.

6. The combination, in a pill-counter, of the perforated strip A, provided with a handle, B, the trough G, stirrups b 0, spring f, and 20 sliding cover D, as described. r

' DAVID B. MOORE.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. ALLEMAND, R. N. DENHAM. 

